look news india
The much-awaited demand of ‘5-day work week’ of about 15 lakh employees and officers of public, private and regional rural banks across the country has received a big blow from the Central Government and the Finance Ministry. For a long time there was a heated discussion on social media and among employee unions that the government is soon going to declare all Saturdays as official holidays. But the top officials of the Finance Ministry have put a full stop to this and made it clear in clear words that the government had never given in-principle or final approval to this proposal. The Ministry clearly believes that in a fast growing economy like India, banking services are directly linked to common citizens, farmers, traders and government revenue, hence the complete holiday on Saturday may have an adverse impact on economic activities.
Under the current system, as per the rules of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Government of India, the second and fourth Saturdays of every month are holidays in banks, while the branches work like normal days on the first, third and fifth Saturdays.
During the 12th Bipartite Wage Settlement between the joint organization of bank unions ‘United Forum of Bank Unions’ (UFBU) and the management body of banks ‘Indian Banks Association’ (IBA), it was agreed to declare all Saturdays as holidays. Under this agreement, the employees had proposed that they would work 40 to 45 minutes extra daily from Monday to Friday to compensate for Saturday. IBA had sent this proposal to the Department of Financial Services (DFS) of the Finance Ministry for formal approval. But due to lack of green signal from the Ministry, this file was lying in cold storage for a long time.
According to government sources, the Finance Ministry has expressed several serious concerns considering the 5-day working model not being practical:
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Impact on economy and trade: The country’s big business class (MSMEs, wholesalers, retail shopkeepers and market commission agents) handles maximum cash deposit, check clearance and trade finance work on Saturdays. There is a possibility that business cycle and liquidity flow will be affected due to Saturday’s closure.
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Impact on Rural and Agricultural Banking: Farmers and working class in rural areas and small towns reach the branches on weekends for banking transactions, KCC, government subsidies and Aadhaar authentication. Due to bank closure for two consecutive days (Saturday and Sunday), the pace of rural economy may slow down.
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Limitations of Digital Services: Although UPI and net banking work 24×7, the presence of physical branches is still mandatory for complex financial operations like loan disbursal, foreign currency exchange, locker operations, dispute resolution and large RTGS/cheque clearances.
Due to this tough stance of the Finance Ministry, there is huge disappointment among the bank unions. Employee organizations argue that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Stock Exchange (BSE/NSE) and most of the administrative offices of the Central Government are already working on 5-day working system.
Unions say that due to increasing work pressure, lack of work-life balance and limited holidays, attrition rates and mental depression are increasing rapidly among young bank employees. Employees claimed that working 45 minutes more per day would not have resulted in any reduction in total weekly working hours, but would have saved energy and resources. However, the government believes that compared to other institutions in the service sector, the work of commercial banks is directly related to public service and cash flow, hence it cannot be compared with LIC or corporate offices.
If the government had approved this proposal, customers would have had only 5 days a week for branch related work. This could have created heavy crowd pressure in the branches on Friday and Monday. At present, the stand of the Ministry has given relief to the common customers, senior citizens and businessmen that the bank branches will remain open as before on the first, third and fifth Saturday of the month and they will be able to complete their important financial work without any hindrance.
After this stance of the Financial Services Department, now the possibility of implementing holiday on all Saturdays in the near future is almost negligible. Experts say that until 100% automation and digitalization of banking processes is achieved in the country, the government will refrain from taking such administrative decisions at the expense of the facilities of the general public. The unions have indicated that they will appeal for a fresh dialogue with the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister’s Office regarding their demands, but the current situation shows that bank employees may have to wait a long time for a 5-day work week.